Vicks humidifier i just bought a vicks humidifier not even a month yet and the steam is not working anymore even we put a pinch of salt still not working. i always change the water everytime we used it. please tell me what im gonna do. thank you so much and looking forward for your answer. eva

1 Answer

Even though you change the water every time, if it's like ours you will still need to clean it with vinegar about once a week. I have a container that the insert portion (filter or whatever it's called) will sit in and has just enough room to pour in 4 inches of vinegar. Let it sit for about 10 to 20 minutes and then run water through the part where the mist comes out while holding your hand over the bottom. After a few seconds allow it all to run through. Continue and shake it really good and continue on until it is clear. I was AMAZED at what came out the first time I did this and part of the time I used distilled water. Hope this solves the problem.

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If your softener is working properly, you should never get any salt in your water. The salt is used only to reactivate the ionic media in your softener cartridge, and during the backflush cycle, all that salt is removed, down to PPM (Parts Per Million) levels.
In any case, even if you used salt water in your vaporizer, it would not increase the amount of steam that it produces. Salt water has a higher boiling point than fresh water. You would also notice salt buildup inside the tank as the water level goes down.
The Vicks Vaporizer works by using only heat to produce steam- the hotter it gets, the more steam it makes. The only practical way to get too much steam outside of a malfunction that causes your heating element to get abnormally hot would be if you live at a very high altitude where water boils at a lower temperature.
High humidity in your home will make it appear as if your vaporizer is making too much steam since the surrounding air will be less capable of absorbing it.
A slightly "off topic" note- if you chose the Vicks Vaporizer/humidifier and have children, you have made a wise decision. Because it produces water vapor by heating instead of ultrasonics, contaminants and minerals (such as salt, iron, calcium, etc.) remain in the tank and will not enter the vapor stream.

When you say you added apinch of salt I asked my wife and she says that is the measure that she uses. I doubt that you have to much salt but you can flush out your vaporizer with warm water while the unit is running. I would run two or three times for 1-2 hours each then remove element and rinse withe warm water.Also rinse out container and refill with warm water to fill line,make sure you don't overfill as this can cause the spitting. I would add about 1/4 cup of pure vinegar and let unit run. If you have hard water or high mineral content this should help to clean it.
I hope this helps you but if it doesn't I would return it as defective. Thank you

Dec 06, 2009 - found solution: if unit is truely clean, unplug unit then mix about a teaspoon of iodized salt (table salt) to the water. Reconnect unit wait about 1 - 2 minutes, unit will start to make a grinding sound but shortly after steam will produce.

use vinegar in water when steam drops then clean out water container. and use a small pinch of salt to let the two prongs in the plastic tube make better contact with each other it will steam very well.